Medical marijuana dispensary seeks zoning variance to open at Brockton church site

Friday

Jun 9, 2017 at 5:48 PMJun 13, 2017 at 7:39 AM

The Brockton Zoning Board of Appeals will hear a petition from Commonwealth Alternative Care for a variance to build a medical marijuana dispensary, during a meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m., at the Arnone School's Little Theatre. Commonwealth Alternative Care wants to open a medical marijuana facility at 1090 W. Chestnut St., currently occupied by the Living Word World Outreach Church.

Marc Larocque Enterprise Staff Writer @Enterprise_Marc

BROCKTON – A Cambridge-based group called Commonwealth Alternative Care is seeking special permission to construct and operate a medical marijuana facility on West Chestnut Street in Brockton.

Commonwealth Alternative Care already has a provisional state permit to open a dispensary in Brockton, but it’s asking the city for a dimensional variance for its proposed site at 1090 W. Chestnut St.

The Zoning Board of Appeals will hear a petition from Commonwealth Alternative Care for the variance on Tuesday at 7 p.m., at the Arnone School’s Little Theatre, located at 135 Belmont St.

The 1090 W. Chestnut St. building is now occupied by the Living Word World Outreach Church and is owned by a group called MB Trust. The Brockton Assessors Department website says that the one-floor warehouse building is 6,600 square feet in size.

The proposed medical marijuana dispensary site is across the street from South Bay Community Services, at 1115 W. Chestnut St., which is a community-based, behavioral health care organization that includes Brockton Early Childhood Services.

According to a city ordinance that created an overlay zoning district – allowing medical marijuana facilities in the West Chestnut Street area where the proposed dispensary is located – medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers must be located 500 feet away from any establishment where there’s children-oriented activity.

However, South Bay Community Services supports the variance, and letters showing that are being sent to the Brockton Zoning Board of Appeals, said Ward 3 City Councilor Dennis Eaniri.

The Enterprise reached out Commonwealth Alternative Care for comment on Friday afternoon and someone from the organization said a representative would get back to the newspaper.

Commonwealth Alternative Care previously sought to open its dispensary at 103 Liberty St., but the company apparently moved on from that building during the past year. The president of Commonwealth Alternative Care is Dorothy M. Whalen, controller at Cambridge College, and its directors are Linda Gibbons and Stephen J. Potoff, according to the most recent annual state filing available online for the corporation.

The Brockton Zoning Board of features three members appointed by the mayor and two Brockton Fire Department officials, along with Brockton Superintendent of Buildings James Casieri serving as clerk.

In December 2016, Commonwealth Alternative Care received final approval from the Taunton City Council to open a medical marijuana plant-growing and sales facility near the Silver City Galleria Mall. That was the culmination of a four-year development, permitting and application process.

John Greene, the community development director of the nonprofit Commonwealth Alternative Care, told elected officials in Taunton that, if Brockton approves the medical marijuana facility, 40 percent of his marijuana product would be delivered to the Brockton site for sale.

There are now 10 fully permitted medical marijuana facilities in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Public Health.

Those include a pre-existing medical marijuana facility in Brockton called In Good Health, which opened 1200 W. Chestnut St. in September 2015.

Earlier this year, another proposed medical marijuana facility proposed by a company called NS AJO Holdings failed to get a variance needed to open a medical marijuana facility outside of the overlay district in a plaza located across the street from the Westgate Mall.

In addition Taunton and Brockton, Commonwealth Alternative Care also received has a provisional state permit for a site in Cambridge.